Cry of the Celestial

"Why was she trying to drink your blood?" Tarkus asked.

"It's easy to return blood after it has been taken," Havel replied.

"But why risk killing you? What would that achieve?" Jaller asked.

"She wants to take me out of the equation, I may not have put up a fight then, but I certainly can now, she doesn't want to have me as an enemy,"

"Well, what is Daayan? A vampony?" Dusk asked.

"No, a powerful sorceress, she can take the form of anything, pony or great beast, her blood-hungry behavior is a result from dark magic,"

"Let's just kill her and be done with it,"

"You wanna get eaten? Be my guest,"

The four sat at a table, with Dusk tending to Havel's wounds. She wiped away at the bite marks on his neck, rubbing a poultice to rid the mark of the dark magic it was riddled with.

"Damn, how long were her fangs?" she asked.

"I don't know, two inches? Maybe three?" Havel said, wincing at Dusk pressing into the wound.

"What about Tosh," Jaller said, "did you really see him? Is he really alive?"

"I saw him with my own- agh! My own eyes, received the orders and the map from him, he told me that Ikaarax is still alive,"

"Who?"

Havel bit his lip, "My old friend,"

"How does that concern us?"

Havel sighed, "He may know a way to defeat Daayan, it's our last chance at all this,"

"We must tell the princesses,"

"Listen, Jaller, everything would be dandy and fine if you were still the naval leader for them, but you went private, the privileges you had with them are cancelled,"

"Then what do you expect us to do," Tarkus said.

"We need to play our cards right, Daayan's army numbers in the millions, each a trained killer that nopony has ever faced. We need to find the Void Stone, that's what we're going to do and we'll use it against Daayan,"

"What's so important about that Void Stone?" Dusk asked.

"Supposedly," Havel began, "it's the heart of an ancient and powerful dragon, the first master of dark magic, legends say the dragon had greater control over it than the princesses themselves, also said he helped raise them,"

"Do you know this dragon?"

"No, but Ikrah does,"

There was banging on the door.

"I thought you said the fucking bar was closed," Tarkus said.

"You left the lights on," the bartender said.

"Lesnitsky has a point, just pull the password trick on them," Havel said.

Rolling his eyes, Tarkus went to the bar's door "Password!" he demanded.

"Moonlight's Shadows!"

"Fuck, that's an old one..." Tarkus muttered.

"Tosh?" Jaller asked.

"No, that was a mare's voice," Havel said.

Drawing weapons, they made their way to the door, swinging it open and holding their weapons ready to strike. Nothing.

"The hell? Who was here?" Tarkus asked.

"I don't know, it's a bit unsettling though," Havel said, "close the door, cold air is getting in,"

They returned to the table, tending to Havel's wounds once more.

"Havel, tell us more about Daayan, we need to know all we can in order to defeat her," Jaller said.

"Daayan is... well, where to begin with her? She's an alicorn, obviously quite powerful, on top of that, she is deeply imbued with dark magic, making her the most dangerous foe we will probably ever fight. Her army is... not pony, or anything that we know of, they're grotesquely morphed creatures capable of killing scores of highly trained guards,"

"So, they'll be about our match then," Tarkus said.

"Not quite, they will overwhelm you, and try to eat you alive,"

"Well, that is quite savage of them," Jaller said.

"Yeah, I realize," Havel rose from the table, having received his treatment for the day, "I'm off to sleep, too much for one night, Jaller, take the map and see what you can make of it, when you're done with that, get the mercs together and load up the airship,"

Jaller looked over the map, trying to discern the path that was on it, "It could take me a while to get something out of this, Havel, it's written in some odd language and there are landmarks I've never even seen before,"

"I'll see if Goliath has any hints for us, until then, do your best," Havel said, walking out the bar.

He walked a few feet from it, hearing a sudden whoosh of wind.

"What?" He said. Nothing there.

He took a deep breath, "Just calm down, Havel, you're a little shaken is all," he said.

He made his way through the night to Canterlot Castle, being led by a maid back to his room.

"If you ever get lonely in there..." she hinted.

"Business before pleasure, ma'am, I realize the heat season is starting, but I can't help you with it," Havel replied.

Havel went into his room, laying down on his bed and almost immediately falling asleep.

***

"Havel..."

Havel opened his eyes. He knew he was in a dream, oddly, and it looked as though he were in a lush forest, with a radiating pond that had a stone in its center.

"Who's there?" He called out.

"Don't you remember me, love?"

Daayan landed in front of him, seemingly hiding in the clouds before descending to Havel.

"Stay away from me, monster," Havel said.

In a single, lightning fast movement, Daayan was wrapped around Havel, rubbing her body against him, "But how else am I supposed to devour you?" she said in a sultry tone.

Havel threw her off, hoping to find his hammer somewhere in the dream.

"You know this, Havel," she began, "it's that time, mares have needs, and stallions are supposed to oblige,"

"Go fuck one of your abominations, I don't want you,"

Again she was on him, pinning him to the ground almost effortlessly, "but I want you tonight, besides, this is just a dream after all,"

Havel's horn glowed with magic, blasting Daayan off of his body. She landed a few feet away, seemingly unaffected by the blast, "Don't be like this, Havel, give in to your desire, I know how badly you want me,"

Havel turned away from her, "I. Do not. Want you. I. Do not. Love you,"

Daayan leaned in, her lips brushing his ear, "Liar," she whispered, biting his ear lustfully. Havel winced slightly, feeling a drop of blood roll down his ear and onto Daayan's tongue.

"Mmm, aren't you just delicious,"

Havel was frozen, his lip quivering from the sharp pain.

"You're all mine here, you can't escape your own dream,"

"Wait," Havel said, "what if we made a deal?"

"A deal?" Daayan said, intrigued about the situation, "depends on the deal,"

"A battle," Havel said, "if you beat me, I'll do whatever you want, but if I win, you let me go,"

Daayan circled Havel, shifting her form into that of a small, black scaled dragon, "Alright," she said, giving him a shark smile, "but don't tire yourself out too much," she kicked Havel's hammer in his direction, gesturing for him to pick it up, "Soon you'll be mine!"